NATIONAL NEWS - President Cyril Ramaphosa’s opponents in the ANC parliamentary caucus are divided over how they should vote in next week’s special sitting called to decide whether impeachment processes against him should proceed.
The sitting was called following the findings of a Section 89 Independent Panel which investigated allegations that Ramaphosa attempted to conceal the 2020 theft of more than $500 000 at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.
Some members won’t be voting in line with the party’s resolution
An ANC MP opposed to Ramaphosa’s leadership told The Witness that she would be voting in line with the party’s national executive committee (NEC) resolution instructing the organisation’s MPS to reject the report of the panel — which recommended that Parliament should institute impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa.
“The truth of the matter is that I personally would like the impeachment process to go ahead. In fact, my position is that Ramaphosa should be removed as both the President of the republic and that of the ANC.
“However, given that this directionless NEC of the ANC has taken a position, I will have no other option but to vote against the panel report. Thereafter, I will join the campaign to have him removed by ANC delegates at next week’s national conference,” the ANC MP said.
Dirks says he will be voting in favour of the panel report
However, Pietermaritzburg-based ANC MP Mervyn Dirks, who is part of a group of ruling party MPs opposed to Ramaphosa’s leadership, said he would be voting in favour of the panel report.
“I want President Ramaphosa to be given an opportunity to defend himself against the accusations levelled at him.
“The only way he can defend himself is by appearing before an ad hoc committee. If the ad hoc committee finds that he has no case to answer, then the impeachment process would not go ahead,” he said.
Early in the year, the leadership of the ANC caucus placed Dirks on suspension after he urged Parliament’s watchdog committee, Scopa, to investigate claims that Ramaphosa — who Dirks claimed was aware that government funds were being used in ANC internal elections, had failed to report the issue to the police.
Asked whether he was concerned that he would be in deeper trouble if he were to defy the ANC NEC resolution that all ruling party MPs should vote against the panel’s report, Dirks said: “I’m not a coward. I can’t be expected to comply with an unethical instruction.
“Also, during former president Jacob Zuma’s term, certain ANC MPs voted in favour of a motion of no confidence against him. Despite the fact that those ANC MPs went against the NEC’s resolution, no action was taken against them. Why should I be treated differently?” he said.
For the impeachment process to be taken to the next level, 50%+1 of Parliament’s 400 MPs should vote in favour of the panel’s report in next week’s special sitting. Most of the opposition parties MPs — including those from the DA, EFF, IFP and UDM — are expected to vote in favour of the panel’s report.
However, given that the ANC has the majority in Parliament, the opposition needs the support of some ruling party MPs to be able to achieve the 50%+1 threshold.
The Witness has been told that more ANC MPs opposed to Ramaphosa’s leadership were planning to go against the NEC’s resolution but only to change their minds after Parliament’s speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula turned down a request by one of the opposition parties, the ATM, for the voting process to be done through a secret ballot.
“Even those ANC MPs who were lobbying other ANC MPs to vote in favour of the panel’s report acknowledged that to openly defy the NEC would place the MPs at risk of being removed.”
Should the opposition parties succeed in convincing enough ANC MPs to vote against the ruling party’s resolution in next week’s sitting, it would be the first time that the opposition was able do so. During Zuma’s tenure, the opposition tabled motions of no confidence against him a record eight times, with the hope that a sufficient number of ANC MPs, opposed to Zuma’s leadership, would vote alongside the opposition.
In all eight instances, the opposition failed to get enough numbers. Another hurdle faced by the opposition was that should they succeed in reaching the 50%+1 threshold in next week’s special sitting, they would need an even a higher number to remove Ramaphosa through the impeachment process.
According to the Constitution, a two thirds majority was required to remove a sitting President through an impeachment process.
Ramaphosa needs MPs to reject the panel’s report to make it easier for him to be re-elected as ANC president at the party’s national elective conference, scheduled for next week. The ANC elective conference, set to take place at Johannesburg’s Nasrec Expo Centre, will see over 4 000 party delegates elect their preferred ANC leaders.
